This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-236450 (1999) filed Aug. 24, 1999, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print head for ejecting an ink for print, a storage box for the print head, and an ink jet printing apparatus, and in particular to a covering rubber member such as a seal rubber which is used particularly to prevent inks from evaporating.
The present invention is applicable to an apparatus such as a copy machine, a facsimile equipped with a communication system and a word processor having a print section as well as to an industrial printing apparatus combined with various processing apparatuses in a composite manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many ink-jet printing apparatuses that are used as printers or the like use an ink tank in a form of cartridge so that it can be easily replaced with another one. This ink tank system has advantages of allowing inks to be supplied easily, requiring relatively low running costs for print, and the like.
FIGS. 28A and 28B are perspective views showing an example of a configuration in which ink tanks are installed in a print head unit, and FIGS. 29A and 29B are transverse sectional views thereof. As shown in FIGS. 28B and 29B, while an ink tank 111 is installed in a print head unit 301, an ink supply port 211 of the ink tank 111 is connected to a joint section 204 of the print head unit 301 so that an ink is supplied to an interior of a print head 102 via the joint section 204. In this configuration, a seal rubber 207 is disposed around the joint section 204. so that while the ink tank 111 is installed in the print head unit, the ink supply port 211 of the ink tank 111 can come in contact with the joint section 204 while pressing the seal rubber 207. This connection system can prevent the ink from leaking or evaporating via this connection while the ink tank is installed.
The ink supplied to the print head 102 is guided through an ink fluid path 206 to a liquid path formed on a silicon substrate 201 and is then ejected by means of thermal energy generated by electro-thermal conversion elements (not shown) in the liquid path.
As described above, the ink jet printing apparatus generally use the seal rubber in a connection portion formed for an ink supply or the like, to particularly prevent the ink evaporation. The seal rubber for this application is reasonable in that it can establish airtightness of the connection portion between the ink tank and the print head with low costs to prevent the ink evaporation. The seal rubber for this application must be much deformed under a light load to have a high sealing capability. Thus, the seal rubber must be soft and has its hardness set at a relatively low value between 30 and 45 HS(A)(JIS: Japanese Industrial Standard).
Rubbers having such low hardness, however, may stick to each other upon contact. When print head units such as that shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B and FIGS. 29A and 29B are manufactured in a factory, automatic supply of the seal rubbers is performed by means of a parts feeder, for example. In such supply, the rubbers may stick mutually and cannot be supplied separately. Thus, an operation for separating the seal rubbers is required, thereby requiring a large amount of labor and time. It is contemplated that once the seal rubbers have been produced, they may be separately stored in individual trays, for example, so as not to contact mutually until an assembly process is started. This method, however, increases manufacturing costs.
As described above, in the case of handling the seal rubber in manufacturing the ink jet printing apparatus, the seal rubbers need to be appropriately prevented from sticking to each other.
The mutual sticking of the seal rubbers is significant particularly in an environment where atmosphere temperature is 20xc2x0 C. or higher or humidity is 70% or more.
The object of the present invention is to provide a covering rubber member that enables print heads, ink jet printing apparatuses, or the like to be appropriately manufactured without creating a sticking problem of the covering rubber member, a print head using this covering rubber member, a storage box for the print head, and an ink jet printing apparatus.
In the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a covering rubber member being in contact with and covering a predetermined member so as to seal the predetermined member enclosing an ink,
wherein the covering member has a roughened surface.
In the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print head receiving a supply of an ink from an ink tank to eject the ink, the print head comprising:
a covering rubber member used for a connection portion for ink supply from the ink tank, the covering rubber member being in contact with and covering an ink supply port of the ink tank so as to seal the ink supply port enclosing the ink and the covering member having a roughened surface.
In the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printing apparatus using a print head and ejecting ink onto a printing medium to perform printing, wherein the print head including:
a covering rubber member used for a connection portion for ink supply from the ink tank, the covering rubber member being in contact with and covering an ink supply port of the ink tank so as to seal the ink supply port enclosing the ink and the covering rubber member having a roughened surface.
In the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage box for storing a print head for ejecting an ink, the storage box comprising:
a cap rubber member being in contact with and covering a surface of a print head on which an ejection opening is disposed when the print head is installed in the storage box for storage, the cap rubber member having a roughened surface.
In the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printing apparatus using a print head and ejecting ink onto a printing medium to perform printing, the ink jet apparatus comprising:
a cap rubber member used for an ejection recovery operation for the print head, the cap rubber member being contact with and covering a surface of the print head on which an ink ejection opening is disposed and having a roughened surface.
With the above configuration, the covering rubber member and the cap rubber member have their surfaces subjected to the roughened finish (xe2x80x9croughened finishxe2x80x9d means that a surface is roughened). As a result of this, when handling the covering rubber members or the like to manufacture the print head where these members are handled in a condition that they must be mutually contacted, the mutual sticking between them can be prevented due to the given surface roughness provided through the roughened finish. In particular, even if the rubber has a relatively low hardness to have more appropriate seal, the mutual sticking of the covering rubber members or the like can be prevented by appropriately setting the surface roughness.
The above and other objects, effects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.